Legend of the Galactic Heroes Fall of Iserlohn
by nz-999-schwarzritter
Summary: As the war between the Free Planets Alliance and the Galactic Reich rages on. Amidst the beginning of the invasion of Imperial territory, contact with the remote planet Harvest is lost. What follows next is horror for the human race, all the while the notable individuals of both the Reich and the Alliance give their all for the sake of humanity, imprinting their names in history...
1. Chapter 1

**Legend of Galactic Heroes:**

**The Fall of Iserlohn**

In one small part of space, a war continues. In war there can only be _one_ victor. Space is an uninhabited wilderness and bloody wounds disappear with time. Maybe the multitude of stars in the sky remember those wounds. Maybe it is fated that even those stars will vanish one eday. Man's presence in the midst of these stars is all that remains of a forgotten battle.

At this time, in the middle of the universe, an insignificant island, a galaxy, was at war. The combatants are the Galactic Empire, or the _Galaktische Reich_, a nation based on autocracy and absolute monarchy, and the Free Planets Alliance, based on democracy.

Trading with both sides is the small city-state of Phezzan, a feudal territory founded at the beginning of the war. Remaining neutral in the conflict, it watches both sides battle.

The war has been going for 150 years.

The date is Space Year (Universe Calendar) January 796, Imperial Year (Reich Calendar) 487. The Battle of Astate rages on between the Alliance's Combined Fleet against Reinhard von Lohengramm's fleets. Even though the Alliance outnumbered the Reich forces 3:1, and they initially surrounded the Imperials, Reinhard managed to device a strategy that ultimately lead to a victory.

However, this victory wasn't total, for an Alliance officer, Commodore Yang Wenli, deviced a counter-strategy which allowed the Alliance to diminish its already heavy losses and allow them to retreat.

Despite this, however, this insignificant conflict would soon be seen by how Yang Wenli described it: an unnecessary, stupid war that only caused further division and weakness in humanity.

Something that would prove fatal for the oncoming onslaught.


	2. Chapter 0 The Prelude Doria

**The Prelude**

**Doria Starzone, main planet, 0500 Hours. 798 UC.** Walter von Schenkopp and twenty Rosen Ritter waited under a ledge, battleaxes and beam assault rifles ready, as the timer kept counting down to zero.

"We confirm enemy presence in the area." Walter was informed by Alliance Intelligence, "Confirm preparation of neutron device."

"Don't worry. Just give us clearance already." Walter replied, his usual snarky attitude in his voice.

"Clearance approved. Mission is a go."

Walter simply smirked, closed the channel, and signaled his men, who slid their helmets' visors down.

The Rosen Ritter were equipped with standard body armor, which covered the soldiers' entire bodies. These armor suits were capable of withstanding dozens of beam shots, although they _did_ wear off the more punishment they received.

Walter raised looked one more time at what they were facing: almost a thousand aliens, of the species they called "Grunts", all clustered in groups across the river shores, some cuddled, sleeping, and others simply standing there. A few seemed to be patrolling the area, in their usual slow pace.

These little "monkeys" were always equipped with methane tanks, with large tanks filled with this gas in their backs. Respirators covered the lower half of their face.

Along with this, the little aliens, which were usually a meter tall, also used light armor in their torso.

Grunts came in several variants: there were the yellow-armored ones, which seemed to be in the lowest position of what appeared to be in the military hierarchy of the Covenant.

There were then the red-armored ones, which seemed to hold a limited control over the yellow-armored ones. Regardless of these factors, they all behaved pretty much the same. Walter had noted once, however, that the red ones would sometimes continue fighting even after their entire force had been wiped out.

Lastly were the ones in emerald armor. These ones usually used the heavy weapons of the alien forces, and seemed to use weapons were usually restricted to sole use of the other species of the conglomerate.

Walter verified the status of his own armor and weapons, checked the status of his squad, and of their single vehicular support, an armored car.

"Let's go, Rosen Ritter." Walter then shouted at his men, the usual determined and daring expression in his voice. His men shouted in approval, and with their battleaxes and beam rifles ready, they came out of their cover and charged at the mass of Grunts.

The little aliens seemed to not have noticed this at first, as they continued their usual activities. However, once Schenkopp cleaved his battleaxe in a Grunt's head, swung it and threw the corpse at three of the little aliens nearby, the entire legion of squealing, barking pseudo-primate creatures directed its sight at them.

The Grunts barked in their alien, incomprehensible language. Many shot their Plasma Pistols at the armored humans, but the shots simply scraped the armor. The Ritter soldiers armed with beam rifles poured energy lasers on the mass of aliens, covering their comrades' advance. The armored car fired its beam cannon twice right in the middle of a cluster of Grunts, blowing half into oblivion and having the other half burning alive, either by the methane's combustion or simply due to direct contact with the beam bolt's energy.

Walter and his men seemed to rejoice at the killing, at the blue blood spraying and covering the view, as they cleaved and swung their axes, again and again. Others simply used the pike in their melee weapons to impale some of the simian-like aliens.

Schenkopp and his second-in-command, Kasper Linz, were back-to-back as a dozen Grunts suddenly surrounded them.

"Seems these little bastards don't learn." Schenkopp noted, as he drew his combat knife and quickly threw it at one of the aliens' head, splitting its skull in two. Linz swung his battle axe at a charging Grunt, and then kicked another one away.

"Good for us. This is payback for what happened to the 101st. These bastards deserve everything we do to them."

The two men then split up, nodding at each other as they charged and massacred the various Grunts nearby. Schenkopp then saw one of the emerald-armored aliens running around with one of the Covenant's heavy weapons, a "Fuel Rod Gun". Walter went behind it and then impaled it with his weapon's pike. He then kicked the corpse away and kept killing more and more aliens with ferocity.

A particular Grunt fired his weapon, a "Needler", at Walter. A few explosive crystal-like needles managed to latch into Walter's armor, wherein then they detonated after a few seconds. Thankfully, the Grunt had not fired many in quick succession, and so there was nothing of the characteristic "chain reaction" of this weapon.

Walter whistled in relief, as he then simply rushed at the Grunt and cut the alien's head in half with his axe. He remembered the first time he saw these particular weapons in action: one Alliance trooper had at least seven of these "crystals" latched into his torso, and in a few seconds, nothing more than charred limbs, broken bones, entrails and blood covered the surface in which that soldier had once stood.

Walter's radio then clicked: it was the Intelligence officer. "Deploy neutron device at once. I repeat: deploy it at once."

Walter grunted a little, annoyed by the Intel officer's meddling in his fight. He signaled the armored car, which then moved directly into the battlefield, escorted by eight Rosen Ritter, who were all armed to the teeth.

(A projectile weapon then suddenly shot Walter from behind). The round bounced as Schenkopp turned around and saw, in the distance, a lookout tower. Two more shots came from it, and Schenkopp soon determined it was from a "Covenant Carbine". That could mean two things: either an "Elite" commanding these Grunts had taken the task of being a marksman, or there were at least two "Jackals" posted in that tower.

It was of no meaning to Schenkopp, as he then signaled one of his men to bring him a rocket launcher. After loading it, he fired at the tower. Reloading, he then fired again. The two rockets hit the tower in quick succession and caused it to explode. The unoccupied Rosen Ritter cheered, and those still massacring Grunts did so with more determination and motivation.

The Intel officer called again, "Covenant light cruiser approaching your location."

"We already have the device ready for detonation." Schenkopp replied, annoyance clear in his voice.

Closing the channel again, Schenkopp stepped over the head of a dying Grunt and slid his visor up, "Listen up, men! The Covie light cruiser is coming as scheduled! Make sure this armored car looks more screwed than these Grunts! They're going to get what's coming to them!"

By this time, the Grunts had regrouped and, barking ferociously, charged _en masse_ against the Rosen Ritter, who stood their ground with melee weapons and half-depleted beam rifles.

Some of them had managed to erect a couple of Shade turrets as well. But for Schenkopp, this was easy, and once again using his "bazooka", he blasted one, while the other was torn to shreds by the armored car's turret.

"We've killed enough time here, men. Let's move out!" he then boasted.

And just like that, the entire human force of one hundred armored men started sprinting towards the evac point, where several shuttles waited for them. The Grunts were not so far behind, firing their Plasma Pistols and Neddlers at them.

As most of the Rosen Ritter started boarding their shuttles, Schenkopp and two others used whatever rounds they had left for their rocket launchers to blast Grunts into oblivion by the dozens.

"Schenkopp, stop fooling around and get back to the fleet at once." Yang Wenli's voice then suddenly came through the radio. Schenkopp fired one last round, as he nodded, "No problem Admiral."

He smirked as he saw the Covenant Light Cruiser approaching from the distance.

* * *

**Geosynchronous orbit with planet Jericho, Doria System**. The Yang Fleet, made up of the surviving ships of the 13th Fleet that had previously captured Iserlohn Fortress and participated in the futile attempt to the invade the Galactic Empire, held considerable distance from the planet, as several Covenant cruisers of many types, a couple of battleships and a dozen light cruisers and destroyers were all deploying in the characteristic formation everyone feared: they were about to _glass_ Jericho.

Yang sighed in relief as the two-dozen shuttles escaped the planet's gravity and headed towards them.

"Wasting a neutron device to blow up a single light cruiser, only to have the planet glassed…" he removed his cap and scratched his disordered hair.

The last year had turned Yang from the light-hearted, cheery young man into a somewhat grim one. His alcoholism had become worse as a result, in a futile attempt to keep himself calm.

After his shuttle arrived into the _Hyperion_, the Yang Fleet's flagship, Schenkopp quickly left towards the bridge. Saluting the admiral, he then stood besides him. He looked at the Covenant ships as they started surrounding the planet, "So, it's stared."

"Yes." Yang replied, "The neutron device plot worked. Shame it didn't stop this."

Schenkopp's expression became more serious than usual, as the alien ships began firing large plasma beams into the planet's surface.

The aquatic bodies in the planet began to boil; the crust began to liquefy and, eventually, turn into hot mud. What had been a pretty paradise was now turning into nothing more than hell.

The alien ships seemed more like sharks and manta rays rather than spacecraft: Doria's sunlight reflected on their hulls' surface.

Yang sighed again, "Alright, we're leaving. Have all ships follow the Protocol and device a route back to Iserlohn."

This command was given to his adjutant, Lieutenant Frederica Greenhill, daughter of Admiral Dwight Greenhill, who had heroically died in battle defending the Dagon Starzone.

* * *

The Alliance ships began turning around, following the predetermined path towards empty space, cautious to not draw attention from the Covenant fleet.

This had been happening for the last year: half the time, the Alliance's ground troops would score victories, albeit pyrrhic ones. In space, it was _never_ a victory; at the best, they were "successful retreats".

But for the last year, the Covenant had glassed half of the Alliance's planets in the outer regions, and was moving closer and closer towards the capital, Heinessen.

And with the Empire refusing to cooperate…

Not even in this situation did Yang feel positive.

And if _Yang_ didn't feel optimistic…it meant things were worse than most thought they were.

* * *

*Author's Note: _What is this? Is this…? Yes it is, a new story! I know, I know…if you've been reading my other story, you must be asking, "What happened?"_

_Needless to say, I needed a break: a break from Gundam and "real robot". Too much wangst._

_So I was introduced into this amazing series known as "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", an OVA that spans 110 episodes of pure epicness, sweetness and awesomeness in _MANY_ levels. The best part is that it feels real, despite claims to the contrary._

_Anyhow, if you've read _"The Fall of Reach"_ by Eric Nylund, you'll notice this chapter, which I called _"Prelude – Doria"_, is supposed to evoke the Prologue of said book. If you haven't read it…I recommend it._

_Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things will get _better_. _THAT_ I can guarantee._

_Sieg Kaiser Reinhard._


End file.
